


best illusions

by sevensevan



Series: spop tumblr prompts [5]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Brainwashing, F/F, Sharing a Bed, exploring catra's time under horde prime's control bc i like hurting myself apparently, makes no sense in the context of canon but i love it anyway <3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26421019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevensevan/pseuds/sevensevan
Summary: Horde Prime shows her things, after he takes Catra’s body.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: spop tumblr prompts [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789600
Comments: 8
Kudos: 124





	best illusions

**Author's Note:**

> prompt from nilefreemans on tumblr: “Did you really think I’d fall for that?” + catradora. i went a little wild.

Horde Prime shows her things, after he takes Catra’s body.

It’s just her memories at first. He goes through them with a kind of detached focus, the way Catra used to absorb Horde propaganda films—uninterested, but knowing that the information will be on a test in a few weeks. She sees flashes of her childhood, of her teenage years, of her rise to power in the Horde, of the last few months as her world has crumbled apart; all of them laid over the interior of Prime’s ship in a sickening double vision as he pilots her body. She isn’t sure why he’s interested, at first. It seems like the kind of thing he would consider beneath him.

Then the visions start.

Catra doesn’t sleep, exactly. Her mind isn’t conscious in the same way that it was before the chip, and doesn’t require the same kind of rest. Prime lets her body rest at regular intervals, though. No point in driving his soldiers into the ground, she supposes. She _does_ understand the importance of keeping an army functioning, even if she hadn’t been acting like it in her last few months on Etheria.

It starts during one of those rest periods. Catra’s mind is sluggish, quiet for the first time in years. She’s getting used to Prime’s control. It is, in some repulsive way, a kind of peace.

Then her body’s eyes open, and instead of the ceiling of Prime’s ship, she sees the bottom of her own bunk bed, back in the cadet dorm in the Fright Zone. She sits up—

— _she sits up_.

Catra turns her head, looking down at her hands. She tells them to turn over, and suddenly she’s looking at her palms. She tells her fists to clench, and her claws dig into her palms.

She’s the one in charge again.

“Hey, Catra.” Catra looks up, eyes going wide at the familiar voice. Adora is standing in the entrance to the barracks. She’s dressed in the same familiar clothes she’s worn for years—red jacket, uniform pants—but there’s no wing pin on her belt, and she’s looking at Catra with…disgust?

“Adora,” Catra whispers, and is taken aback at the sound of her own voice. She hasn’t heard herself in…days? Weeks? She isn’t sure how long it’s been since she was chipped. Prime doesn’t speak through her, and she doesn’t move without Prime’s direction.

Not anymore, though. Somehow, she’s free.

“Why did you do that in training today?” Adora asks, tone dripping with disappointment, and suddenly Catra recognizes pieces of this moment. She broke Kyle’s ankle in a training exercise when they were fourteen. It had been an accident, but no one had believed her when she said that—not even Adora. Adora had pretended to, at least, but Catra could tell from the look in Adora’s eyes that she hadn’t meant it.

But this isn’t—this is _wrong_. They’re both too old. Adora looks eighteen, and besides that, Adora had been _kind_ then, wide eyes and gentle touches as she rubbed feeling back into the muscles that Shadow Weaver had shocked too hard when she punished Catra. This Adora is angry. This Adora looks like she wants to _hurt_.

“It was an accident,” Catra says, echoing her younger self. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Of course you did,” Adora says, shaking her head. “You don’t even pretend to control your impulses anymore.” She takes a step closer, and Catra shifts away, scooting farther back onto the bunk bed. “Why would you do that, Catra?” she asks.

“It was an _accident_.” With an effort, trying to remember how to move her feet for herself, Catra stumbles up from the bed and over to Adora. She grabs at Adora’s arms, half for emphasis and half to hold herself steady. “It was an accident, Adora. I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“Save it,” Adora says. She smacks Catra’s hands away. “You _did_ want to hurt him. You liked it, didn’t you?” She shakes her head. “I thought I _knew_ you, Catra. I thought we were _friends_.” Her voice quivers.

“Adora—”

“I’m gonna go,” Adora says. “Just—move your stuff back up to your bunk, okay?” Catra’s heart _shatters_.

“Adora,” she says. Adora shakes her head and turns away.

Catra’s eyes open against her will, revealing the ceiling of her room on Prime’s ship, and everything begins to make sense.

_Prime_ , she thinks, loud enough that she knows he’ll hear it. _Why did you do that?_

_I’m trying to help you, little sister,_ Prime’s voice echoes back. He sounds almost smug. _Your memories of your Adora hurt you because you still care for her. I only want you to let go._

Catra doesn’t bother responding.

Prime doesn’t give up, though. He shows her memory after memory, twisting them around, spewing anger and disgust from Adora’s mouth. At first it’s almost comical. Prime can’t sound like Adora, not even with all of Catra’s memories of her—because, as Catra had learned when Adora left, she never really understood Adora at all.

Then it becomes cathartic. All the hatred and anger she’s thrown at Adora, finally reflected back at her. Finally, a version of Adora that doesn’t pretend to care.

Then a version of Adora that _does_ care arrives. An Adora that tries to _not_ fight Catra, that holds her close even as Prime drags Catra’s claws down Adora’s back, that jumps off a cliff for her and turns into She-Ra and carries Catra off the ship and makes everything _stop hurting_.

Catra wonders if Prime has finally gotten good at pretending to be Adora.

Later, alone in her room on an antique space ship, Catra stares up at the ceiling and says, “Did you really think I’d fall for that?”

Prime doesn’t answer.

“Catra?” It’s a voice in the doorway, and Catra lifts her head to look at the silhouette she already knew would be there. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Catra says, dropping her head back to the mattress. Adora is silent, like she’s waiting for more. Catra doesn’t give it to her. She isn’t going to play Prime’s games any more than she has to.

“Okay, well, if—if you’re okay with it…” Adora takes a deep breath. “Can I stay for awhile?” Catra squeezes her eyes shut. Prime really _has_ learned how to be Adora. Always doing whatever makes Catra feel most like her skin has been sanded away.

“Do what you want, Adora,” Catra says. She doesn’t open her eyes again. After a long few seconds, she hears Adora’s footsteps cross the room, and then a weight settles down on the mattress beside her.

_God damn it, Prime._

Adora is silent and near-motionless beside her. Catra can hear her quiet, gentle breaths, can picture her stupid concerned look: tension in her jaw and wide blue eyes focused on Catra’s face. Catra holds out for a long few minutes, listening to Adora breathe, before she finally, _finally_ breaks.

Catra rolls over without opening her eyes. She throws one arm over Adora’s waist, tangles their legs together, and buries her face in Adora’s chest. Adora’s breath hitches, but still, she stays silent. One arm comes up to rest around Catra’s shoulders, so gentle it almost burns.

If Adora notices the tears staining her jacket beneath Catra’s face, she doesn’t say a word.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it! i'm on tumblr @sevens-evan if you ever want to send me a prompt of your own. i also have a couple catradora multichapters that i'm quite proud of if you're interested in checking those out! please leave a comment if you enjoyed.


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